A noctilucent cloud is silvery or bluish white and is typically visible on summer nights in high latitudes. In the early 21st century, because of increases in methane concentrations in the upper atmosphere, noctilucent clouds appeared with increasing frequency in lower latitudes. Between the early 1980s and the early 2010s, methane concentrations at that altitude rose by 15 percent. High-altitude methane molecules undergo a series of chemical reactions that contribute to the formation of water vapour.

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